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Loft Peeping: Naomi Watts & Liev Schreiber

Last time I ran a Loft Peeping post drawn from an Architectural Digest feature, Condé Nast said I could use four photos. So for this post on the northwest Tribeca loft of actors Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, I’m not running any of the portraits—because I think you know what Watts and Schreiber look like. Parents around here probably even know what the couple’s sons, Alexander (8) and Samuel (7) look like. And possibly dog owners would recognize their Yorkie, Bob, although he wasn’t photographed for AD.

The family lived in Noho before buying in Tribeca; the plan was to “create a duplex from two separate units—one had been an artist’s loft.” (Click on the photo above and you can probably recognize the location.) But Hurricane Sandy hit right after and they couldn’t get in for months. Then they took two years to land on an architect/designer, finally choosing Ashe + Leandro, who did a marvelous job. A few items of note:

••• There’s a very chic green lacquer bar.
••• Watts bought in FiDi 15 years ago, then quickly sold it. “I should have kept it,” she says. “Now it’s worth twice what I paid.”
••• A lot of the decor is from Ralph Lauren Home and Restoration Hardware. More locally, there’s an antique kilim from Double Knot.
••• When asked about her favorite part of the home, Watts said, “I lie in bed at night and think, I can’t believe after all these years in New York I finally have a walk-in pantry!“

The text is by Michael Hainey; the photographs are by Douglas Friedman. Click here to read an abridged version of the article and see the full slideshow, including more photos than you’ll find in the print edition. Once AD posts the link on Facebook (and presumably Twitter), you’ll get access to the unabridged text.

Loft Peeping posts will always be at the top because they’re the most popular posts on the site. As for the quote, I found it charming, which is why I included it. Imagine yourself in an industry where personal publicity is not only expected, but insisted upon, and you’re asked what you like most about your new home. What are you supposed to say? That it sure is swell to have 4,000 square feet to stretch out in? Finally, space for our live-in help? (No clue if they have that, by the way.) Watts’s answer was perfect, and I suspect anyone who has a family and/or cooks often can relate to the thrill of a walk-in pantry. (I’d like one.) This may sound defensive, but if people are going to let us into their homes, we should treat them with respect.

Well said indeed! Our energy would be better spent on actual real people with real problems and real interests … and real NY apartments. Disgusted to read that celeb reference Hurricane Sandy. Doesn’t she know ppl lost their homes, their ONLY homes. Author should’ve included that extra time also had to do with their inability to pay the first guy on the project who had to sue them to get his money after doing work. Or maybe just chosen someone more appropriate to highlight. This is NOT the neighborhood into which I moved. Very disheartening.

I love these articles. One of these years I would love to go on the loft tour where locals open their homes to the public in order to raise money for Friends of Duane Park and Friends of Bogardus Garden.